It’s too early to be too optimistic, but there are some encouraging trends evident in the numbers concerning Australan wine exports. While the volume and value of Australian wine exports fell in the year ended June 2012 by 2% and 5% respectively, there is a the average value per litre of Australian bottle wine sales increased by 4% to $4.40 and of bulk sales by 4% to $1.01 per litre. There has also been an evident, detectable change in the way that international wine media are addressing Australian wine, which could indicate that it might yet return to some level of fashionability sometime soon.There is little doubt that the small 2011 and 2012 vintages contributed to the higher per litre values on bulk wine. Red wine exports decreased by 3% last year, likely to be a direct reflection of the 15% decline in red wine production in 2011.Wine Australia states that this decline in volume was driven by reduced bottled wine exports, but points out that there have been significant increases in bulk wine sales to this country’s two leading overseas markets, the UK and the US. Bulk wine sales to other countries, including China, actually declined; largely as a result of increased bulk wines prices. The fall in China was a whopping 65%. Total exports of bulk wines exceeded bottled wines for the first time in January 2012. This gap is widening, not narrowing.Bulk wine numbers to the UK are indeed being affected by the increasing level to which Australian wine producers ship their wine in bulk for bottling in the UK under their own brands or supermarket BOBs. This approach directly reduces the carbon imprint and is popular with many UK consumers.Of the three most important markets for Australian wine, the UK remains at the top, but with a 1% decline in volume. Almost 80% of Australian wine shipped to the UK is in bulk containers. At the other end of the scale, sales between å£4 and å£7 grew by 9% while the strongest rate of growth was recorded above å£7, up by 26%.Exports to the US increased by 6%, through larger bulk wine sales. Moving eastwards, Chinese purchases of Australian bottled wines grew by 21%, with average price per litre increase of 7% to $6.23. Sales of Australian bottled wines in China priced between A$5.00 to A$7.49 per litre increased by 40%, while the segment above A$10 grew by 34%. China is now the biggest destination for Australian bottled exports above A$7.50 per litre.
